Bigger smacks for poor NT student attendance

The Commonwealth is once again targeting remote school attendance in the NT.

ABC TV

Up to 100 truancy officers are expected to be introduced in remote Northern Territory schools, under new Federal Government measures to boost school attendance numbers.

NT Education Minister Peter Chandler said new measures including welfare restrictions and truancy officers would be introduced in up to 20 indigenous communities.

"There could be up to five truancy officers per community," Mr Chandler said.

Mr Chandler expects the trial changes to kick in by term one next year.

He said it was aimed at improving the future of indigenous children and providing incentives for parents to send their children to school.

"The bottom line is, we don't want to see, at the end of the day, anyone penalised in any way," Mr Chandler said.

"What we want to see is their kids go to school."

The Prime Minister and State and Territory leaders agreed at last week's Council of Australian Governments meeting to introduce punitive measures to boost indigenous school attendance rates.

NT Chief Minister Adam Giles said the Commonwealth was looking at reviving the CDEP scheme as another method to increase remote indigenous school attendance.

Mr Giles said the work for the dole scheme helped to create a working culture in communities where there was little prospect of private economic development.

"I fundamentally believe that we have to work out ways of getting at least one parent in every family working as one form of measure or one tool to get kids to school, and I know the Federal Government is looking at what we can do there," Mr Giles said.